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hawkinspeter writes "The BBC is reporting that Microsoft is dropping the 'Metro' name for the new Windows 8 UI. Apparently, the catchy new name they've settled on is 'Windows 8 style UI!' This has happened due to a (potential) trademark dispute with Metro AG, a German retail giant. Microsoft said, 'We have used Metro style as a code name during the product development cycle across many of our product lines. As we get closer to launch and transition from industry dialogue to a broad consumer dialogue we will use our commercial names.' I'm wondering if Microsoft planned this to get publicity for their new OS and UI or whether they just forget to check on how 'Metro' is used around the world."

Me for stuff I work on I give my products Latin Code Names for the product. That give me time to get the product done and working well before I can come up with a more creative or marketing friendly name.

The code name Metro doesn't really tell us anything, it is just a place holder name to work on your project... Mainly because all your code is placed in a folder with a name and in a project with a name.

Not strictly true. Metro was chosen originally for the UI because the tiles slide from side to side, like the windows of a metro train when you're standing on the platform.

Dont ask how i know.;)

Close. Microsoft's design team says that the Metro UI [wikipedia.org] is partly inspired by signs commonly found at public transport systems, for instance on the King County Metro transit system, which serves the Seattle area where Microsoft is headquartered.

hmm. I assumed it was short for "metrosexual". Some of my friends at MS called it BiCu (pronounced sort of like Haiku), short for "bi-curious". I think that fits since they're trying to target the Apple/designer/hipster crowd but they're also retaining legacy windows for the suits.

You have the wrong username, because I don't think you CAN read. Carl Sagan was a code name. I wasn't used in public. And last I checked you have the freedom to express negative opinions about buttheads all you want.

They didn't name a product. It was an internal code name and the system was never publicly marketed as such. Sagan learned about the internal ongoings at Apple (probably from a Sagan fan at Apple) and got offended and worried that it *might* eventually be used publicly. Since it was never used in commerce, and you can't sue on what only may happen, Sagan had no case, Apple didn't have to comply with the C&D.

Then they change it to BHA (Butt Head Astronomer) due to Sagan being, well, a butt head. Sagan su

No, Metro was supposed to be more than e.g the "Chicago" codename for Windows 95. Microsoft promotional materials showed photos of the New York subway signs to illustrate the big bold fonts and clutter-free design they were after.

Yea that's not what this was though, this was a marketing term and they started pushing it very early. Similarly technical documentation for developers refers to it all as Metro, if they were going to change that because it's not the real name, they would have done it before it went RTM.

Consider this: they have no other name for it. "Aero" is still "Aero", but "Metro" is now "Windows-8 style UI".

It describes an interface generally composed of tiles, where more content exists to one side or the other and that content is visually truncated at start so as to reveal you need to scroll to see more.

a bunch of transit authorities use the word, there's metroPCS, some library consortium, a few other government entities, etc.

clearly, the word is common and abstract enough that anyone can claim it's usage

trademark law, copyright law, intellectual property: it is such an absurd, useless pox on civilization. i foresee and fervently hope that history will write of this century about how the whole concept of intellectual property law became abolished. it's such useless wasteful, lawyer mongering nonsense by trolls

we really need to just lose the entire concept of intellectual property from our societies. it is utterly destructive to the free flow of culture and ideas and does NOT do what it purports to do: protect creators. no, it empowers litigious rent-seeking parasites. so much wasted money energy and time

clearly, the word is common and abstract enough that anyone can claim it's usage

Exactly. Usually, no trademark issues are raised when the two companies' activities are so different. My guess in that case is that the German Metro wanted to avoid a splash of bad notoriety in case Windows 8 is a flop.

I'd guess that over the last year there has been a huge amount of bad press from tech forms and publications where authors have written about how much they hate metro. Changing the name is MS way of re-branding the UI and getting away from the bad press.

The same sort of thing happened with vista, there was a ton of press on the OS when it went by it's "code name" Longhorn before it was released, a lot of the press was pretty bad. So MS changed the name to Vista just before the release to re-brand it at the last minute and confuse the public. It's the equivalent to "Oh! I read this really terrible review about Longhorn, I'm not putting that on my machine. What's this? Vista! Well I haven't read anything bad about that I'll give it a try!"

do i avoid the Subway sandwich chain if there is a subway crash in New York? how about avoiding Target the retailer because the USA missed the archery target in the Olympics. how about avoiding Sears the retailer because the local paper wrote that it is so hot outside it is searing. can Subway sue the NYC transit authority? can Target sue the Olympics? Can Sears sue the local paper?

I could be related to the German company Metro AG (Wikipedia [wikipedia.org]) - they are _very_ aggressive with trademarks (including killing a fan-site for the rapid transit-type of Metro).

One of the Nice Classes Metro AG owns the trademark for METRO is 9, the classification includes "data processing equipment, computers; computer software". afaik the company has no claims in this specific part of the Nice Classification, but as a big retailer (and business partner for MS) they had probably the way and means to convince M

I could be related to the German company Metro AG (Wikipedia [wikipedia.org]) - they are _very_ aggressive with trademarks (including killing a fan-site for the rapid transit-type of Metro).

This is one speculation. Another is that Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer attorneys have rattled their sabres. See, they are in the entertainment industry, and Microsoft tries with Windows 8 to make a platform built for and marketed to the YouTube(TM) generation.

Yes, "Metro" is a generic term, but Microsoft would likely have had the same problem if they called it "Universal", "Paramount" or "Apple". Because some generic terms have a specific meaning within specific industries.

They don't need to so long as they defend the trademark they have been awarded. As a large retailer they could start selling own-branded computers in a few weeks if they wanted to. They registered it, they paid for it, it is a well known brand...they just can't use it for building underground railways.

I don't see how "Metro" would be violation of trademark. If Metro AG is a retail store, then they are fundamentally different than a software company. Either Microsoft never considered using "Metro" to describe their UI (unsurprisingly this story is made up) or Metro AG does something in software.

I can start a company that installs windows on homes and call it Windows. The names just have to no be in the same industry.

What I don't understand is that Metro AG has nothing to do with operating system software, so why is Microsoft so afraid? There is absolutely no way of mistaking one for the other, they're not even in related markets let alone in the same one. Sure, a lawsuit would cost both parties some money, but it's totally clear-cut from where I sit that Microsoft would prevail, so changing the name now when people are already accustomed to calling it "Metro" just to please Metro AG seems terribly short-sighted.

a bunch of transit authorities use the word, there's metroPCS, some library consortium, a few other government entities, etc.

clearly, the word is common and abstract enough that anyone can claim it's usage

None of which would stop MS from using it as the name of their GUI system. More problematic is the fact that there's no chance of MS shifting anyone currently using a metro.tld website to something else; there's a lot of strong existing trademarks sitting there that would make any attempt to use legal mechanisms impractical and buying them all out very expensive.

Easier to just change the name to more closely identify with a different trademark; after all, only a limited number of developers know the UI by i

trademark law, copyright law, intellectual property: it is such an absurd, useless pox on civilization.

Despite corporations seeing it as "property" it has a useful purpose, to keep the consumer from getting ripped off. Otherwise, you could by an expensive Snap-On tool, only to find out it's a cheap pot metal knock-off legally using the Snap-On name. The way it is now, Snap-On will go after the offender in order to protect its name, which protects us, the consumer.

of course i don't support some assholes opening their own sandwich shop called McDonalds across from a real McDonalds. this is valid intellectual property law. this is a core concern. but we have gone FAR FAR away from this example:

you don't admit that with 70 year copyright extensions, and a completely unrelated use of a common word, that things in the world of intellectual property are a complete farce, only useful to litigious rent seeking parasites?

In a capitalist society, why should the creators of original work be the only ones not allowed to make any money from their labour?

I'm not against them making money from their labour, but 'selling' rights to copy works of art is just a scam. They should be paid for labour, not for copies, otherwise it's just yet another ponzi scheme because no real goods or services are exchanged.

Oh, and something like funding a movie through kickstarter is just returning to the concept of patronage, except that you're relying on thousands of people instead of just one.

But that's just as boneheaded a play (no offense to any Minbari who happen to be reading). If you're going to rename it at the end of the week, then just keep referring to it as Metro for a couple of days and then call it by its new name*. Don't release a dorky name for half a week, especially if you're only avoiding a potential lawsuit.

They have not settled on this name, this is a temporary form to address what was known as Metro until a new name is been found, probably because there is an impending lawsuit in the works.

From TFA:

The Windows team is "working on a replacement term" according to the memo, "and plans to land on that by the end of this week." Until then, employees have been advised to refer to the Metro style user interface as the "Windows 8 style UI.

The Windows team is "working on a replacement term" according to the memo, "and plans to land on that by the end of this week." Until then, employees have been advised to refer to the Metro style user interface as the "Windows 8 style UI."

So "windows 8 style UI" is just a temporary name while the look for a new one.

Another poster claimed that Metro AG actually also got a trademark of the class that includes computer software. No idea if they are using it or if Germany has a "use it or lose it" stance on trademark as in the US.

I thought trademark name clashes were a non-issue if they are completely unrelated entities

I think that's true in theory, but not always in practice. I've heard about people winning trademark cases that I thought were absolutely absurd, where there was no connection in the industries involved. Also, not everyone can afford to go to court over a frivolous trademark claim, and sometimes people will back down to avoid the legal costs or take the chance that the court will decide against them.

Just because the supposed intent of the law is one thing, doesn't mean it doesn't mean that the application

I don't believe that this is the real reason Microsoft is changing the branding. If they thought it was valuable enough to keep, they would fight for it. But among tech-savvy users, Metro has become a punchline and a negative brand, just like Vista. I smell another Mojave [betanews.com] coming up.

They've been calling it Metro for quite a while, including on all that stuff put out about Windows Phone 7. You know WP7, that phone OS of theirs that's in production. If codenames really don't stick around once its in production, then how do they explain that?

The truth here is that Windows 8 has been poorly received, and Metro is the reason why. Too many people hate it on the desktop. In an attempt to change the conversation they're going to change the name and hope that the negative buzz doesn't carry over.

Windows is the operating system of just about EVERYBODY. Including people who may be conservative and even provincial. My guess is that a marketing person at Microsoft finally got heard and they decided to lose the name "Metro" after learning it was too urban and possibly "gay" aka "threatening" for some folks.

In Paris, the Metro is the transportation's network, and by extension the name of the stations and of the trains.

The stations smell like piss, with beggars and tramps everywhere (and yes, I'm french).Once there is a small problem on a line, all the traffic is slowed down.The trains almost always are late, especially when the weather is hot.

Finally, the parisians always try to force their way in the train, even though it's full.

My guess is that the demand for compensation came in from someone's attorneys to Microsoft's headquarters and Microsoft jumped at the excuse political opportunity to change the name. Backed by Metro being hard to trademark as it's used by municipalities worldwide for mass transit and the name change was a shoe in from the legal side.

Marketing had a problem in that Metro already had a god awful reputation in the market. Enterprises won't touch Windows 8 because Microsoft forces the Metro interface as the default interface. They are simply trying to soften the blow of forcing the world to use the Metro interface by default whether they want to or not.

Think about it, they are betting one of the worlds largest companies on an interface that is universally loathed if your not on a tablet. This may well be the largest bet in history.

> Apparently, the catchy new name they've settled on is 'Windows 8 style UI'

I'm no Microsoft fan, but TFS is wrong. Both linked articles aren't that long, so it's not hard to find what they've actually said. Microsoft has dropped "Metro" and is looking for a new name. Until they figure out a new name, they have asked developers to stop referring to the interface as "Metro" and use "Windows 8 style UI" instead. But the point is, Microsoft has not settled on this as a new name.

From the BBC article:

Instead of Metro, Microsoft has told developers to simply refer to the blocky display as a "Windows 8 style UI" for the time being.

From the Verge article:

Until then, employees have been advised to refer to the Metro style user interface as the "Windows 8 style UI."

I realise the law is ridiculous but it seems silly that you could get sued for a name of feature of a product because someone's regional company has the same name. I'm pretty sure someone has a company named Windows.

We've got that in Britain too: http://www.metro.co.uk/ [metro.co.uk] I think it's an off-shoot of the Daily Mail, so I always avoid reading it and use it to line my guinea pig's cage. Still, it's worth what you pay for it.

A trademark can only be enforced if it gets to court, and the "infringer" doesn't decide to drop the whole thing to avoid the possibility of a seven-digit lawsuit when they get a nastygram on an important letterhead,